Gross!

So, this might be kind of gross but it is an interesting story. I have had a cyst on the back of my neck for years. It became infected a few years ago, so I took some antibiotic and it went back down. It's normal size is a size of a pea. It's current size is that of a walnut, perhaps bigger. I made an appointment for a consultation with a general surgeon for Thursday to see if I can have it removed. However, it started swelling more, turning strange colors, and hurting. And then on Saturday night, while unable to sleep from being sick to my stomach, I found an extra lump. Gross! This one was the size of a marble. You can see it by just looking at me. So, Sunday evening I decided to call the advice nurse at Kaiser. She advised me to go to the ER as soon as I could. Needless to say, I freaked out! I think I went to the ER one time when I sliced my head open on the cutting board when I was 4 or something. After I finally got a hold of Matt we headed to the ER. Before that I sat on the phone with my mom and had to cancel dinner plans with Erica and Casey. I got my wrist band and sat in the waiting room. They are nothing like what is on TV. When I finally saw the doctor she decided she wanted to cut into my cyst to "drain it". She numbed my neck and cut into it. Nothing came out and Matt almost passed out. And she said the extra lump was a swollen lymphnode. So, she put me on antibiotics and sent me home. Now my neck hurts even worse, my swollen lymphnode is so sore. I can hardly turn my head over my right shoulder. Gross! Matt did say that my cyst has gone down some, which is good.

The funny part of the night is when we went to go look for our car. We knew right where it was but because the hospital is under so much construction we were unable to get there in what seemed to be a logical way. We ended up in the lobby of the hospital with the security guard, thinking we were going to be able to walk straight through, we let him know we were looking for our car. He immediately presses his walkie talkie and says *alpha 10-4 this is Bob looking for Matt 3* or something like that. Matt and I thought he was kidding and we laughed out loud. He was not kidding. We were escorted up the stairs and then back down the stairs as the phone was ringing. And then, we were escorted out the front doors (where we originally came from) and then another security guard drove over in a car, picked us up, and drove us to our car. It was quite comical. After a very late dinner of Taco Bell, we got to sleep around midnight. I was exhausted on Monday and the antibiotic made me very woozy.

I can't wait to find out when they can take this nasty thing out. I'll keep you updated. ~N